Mechanically operated collapsible valve



Unitsd Se@ Patent 2,987,292 MECHANICALLY OPERATED COLLAPSIBLE VALVEWilliam R. Teson, 11341 Via Wanda, No. 64, Long Beach, Calif., andHoward W. Barkell, 1807 Luray St., Long Beach 7, Calif. Y

Filed July 13, '1959, Ser. No. 826,781 9 Claims. (Cl. 251-6) Thisinvention relates generally to uid ow valves, and more particularlyconcernsV a novel valveV characterized as being packingless, in thatthere are no clearances between relatively movable parts to which uidhas access during opening and closing of the valve, which clearances areordinarily required to be sealed by appropriate packing.

In the handling of corrosive uids such as in reneries and in thechemical industry it is sometimes desirable to keep the iuid out ofcontact with movable valve parts subject to corrosion. This is extremelyydifiicult to accomplish where, during opening and closing of the valve,the liuid has access to the valve parts through small clearances whichare formed even between mechanically pressure sealed components.Accordingly, etorts have been made in the past to construct valves inwhich such clearances are eliminated, by utilizing Va Iiiexible sectionof tubing which may be closed oi or pinched off from the exterior as bythe application of iluid pressure to the tubing outer surface. However,such packingless valves Ahave been subject to diiiiculties brought aboutat least in part by the lack of positive mechanical closure of theexible tubing eiected in'such a way as to insure, without chance ofmalfunction, the complete closure of the valve.

Accordingly, the present invention has for its major object the solutionof the above mentioned diii'iculties through the provision of a 'valvein which a tlexible bore liner is located within a iluid iiow bore of avalve body, the liner being subject to complete and positive closure. Aswill be described in detail, the flexible bore liner 'extends across aside opening in the valve body to seal Y.

off access of fluid in the bore to the 'side opening. For

effecting closure of the liner, insert means is provided at lthe outsideof the opening, the insert means being movas for example in rotation topositively cam the insert means inwardly and thereby effect positivedisplacement of the liner to reduce the iiuid flowv bore area, therebeing no possibility of lmalfunction in closure of the valve. Y

More specically, multiple inserts are provided at the outside ofmultiple side openings in a tubular body spaced about the body axis.These inserts preferably comprise balls sized for simultaneous movementthrough the openings in response to displacement of an actuator sleeverelative to the tubular body and at the exterior thereof. In one form ofthe invention, the sleeve is rotatable about the tubular body axis tocam the balls inwardly from within interior recesses in the sleeve,whereas in another form of the invention the sleeve is advanced axiallyalong the tubular body to cam the balls inwardly from within an annularrecess in the sleeve. An important feature of the invention resides inthe fact that the ilexible liner is substantially fully supported at alltimes by the convex ball surfaces so as to prevent pressure blowout ofthe liner through the side openings Patented June 6,

in the tubular body. Also, the liner is bulged so as to completely lillthe uid liow bore area when the balls have entered the bore to themaximum extent.

These and other objects and advantages of the present invention, as wellas the details of an illustrative embodiment, will be more fullyunderstood from the following detailed description of the drawings inwhich:

FIG. l is a cross section through the valve in condition;

FIG. 2 is a view similar to FIG. l but showing the valve in closedcondition; FIG. 3 is a view taken on line 3-3 of FIG. 2; FIG. 4 is aperspective View of the valve exterior showing the use of a worm gearmechanism for opening and Aopen fbe provided. The side openings areapproximately ci'r cular and are sized to pass circular cross sectioninserts shown in their preferred form as balls 15 located at theoutsides of the openings as seen in FIG. l, wherein' the valve is open.The balls are retained in the valve open condition within recesses 16formed within a sleeve 17 which is mounted for rotation about thetubular' body 11. As seen in FIG. 3 the sleeve is axially retainedbetween a pair of collars 18 and 19, the iirst typically being fixed onthe tubular body 11, and theV second collar'bein'g mounted on threads20, It ywill be understood that the sleeve 17 may be locked in rotaryposition by tightening the collar '18 against the sleeve so as tofrictionally engage the sleeve against collarsY 1S and 19. Other lockingdevices are of course usable as and for the purpose of locating thesleeve 17 in a rotary position Vwith respect to the tubular body 11. K

The sleeve 17 is adapted to be rotated in the direction of the arrow 22for the purpose of closing the valve; and in this connection therecesses have cam shoulders 23 a't their rearward sides with respect tothe direction of 4 ro'- tation. These cam shoulders are angled to engageand urge the balls 15 inwardly through the side openings'V 13 forcausing the balls to enter the bore 12, theballs'in their innermostpositionsl being shown in FIG.'2. 'As therein illustrated, the lballsare retained in their'inn'er'- most positions by engagement with thebore segments 221 of the sleeve intermediate the recesses 16. l A exiblebore liner, typically cylindrical, is shown generally at 25 in allviews, the liner typically comprising rubber, and being peripherallysealed as by bonding to the bore 12 of the body 11 at the locations 26and 27 spaced at axially opposite sides of the side openings 1'3.Alternatively, the liner may be held in place by. a flanged coupling, asbetween pipe and valve body flanges. Thus, fluid within the valve cannotgain access to the side opening 13 or the balls 15, and the linerextends across the openings to seal oi access of corrosive fluidthereto. In FIG. l, the liner 25 is shown circumferentially supported bythe bore 12 of the tubular body 11 and by the smoothly convex surfacesof the balls 15, there being only small gaps within the side openings 13across which the liner is unsupported during valve open condition.Prefably, the interior edges 28 of the openings 13 are rounded or smoothso as to prevent gouging or cutting of the rubber liner 25 when thelatter is pressed thereagainst by uid pressure.

As the valve is closed the balls 15 displace the liner inwardly atsymmetrical locations, causing increasing en- 3 gagement of the convexsurfaces of the balls with the 4exterior surface of the liner. When thevalve is finally closed the liner cross section generally appearsY-shaped as viewed in FIG. 2, the balls transmitting pressure to theliner to close it across interfaces 30 also extending in Y-shapedconfiguration. This pressure transmission is positive and mechanical,there being no chance for the balls to move outwardly to result inopening of the valve in the absence of further rotation orcounter-rotation of the sleeve 17.

Complete closure of the liner at the axis V14 is made possible by theprovision of a liner bulge 31 in the form of a projection taperinginwardly toward the axis 14 and opposite one of the balls 15. As viewedin FIG. 2, the bulge 31 keys or matches the gap remaining at the axis 14when the balls and liner are displaced inwardly to extent. Additionalinward bulges 32 located in the plane of the bulge 31 normal to the axis14 are provided at locations intermediate the balls 15 so as to causethe -formation of enlarged liner lobes 33 during inward displacement ofthe balls. The ylobes in turn effect a more extensive engagement of theliner exterior surface with the balls 15 to insure maximum pressuretransmission and sealing closure at the interfaces 30.

In FIGS. 1 and 2 a handle extension 34 of the sleeve is shown projectingoutwardly away from the sleeve. It will be understood that the handle 34may be grasped manually or may be otherwise actuated to rotate Vthesleeve 17, giving increased mechanical advantage forclosing the valve.It will be further understood that complete closure of the valve `shownin these views is etected by turning of the sleeve 17 through only 1A ofa turn, approximately.

In FIG. 4 the sleeve 17 has gear teeth 35 formed thereon for engagementwith a worm 36 formed on a shaft 37. The latter is adapted to besupported by lugs 38 and to extend through openings 39 therein, the lugsbeing carried by the tube 11. Thus, rotation of the hand wheel 40 on theshaft 3-7 causes turning of the sleeve 17 for closing the valve withmuch increased mechanical advantage, depending of course upon themechanical advantage derived from the worm gear arrangement. This makespossible line control of the valve.

In FIG. the sleeve 17 is in threaded engagement with the tube 11 at 41,so that as the sleeve is turned it advances axially relative to thetubing 11. The balls 1S are received in an annular recess 42 in thesleeve 17 when the valve is in open condition. As the sleeve 17 isrotated and thereby axially advanced, an annular cam surface 43 engagesthe balls and displaces ,them inwardly through the side openings 13 forclosing the liner 25 as previously described. Y Y

We claim: Y Y

1. A valve, comprising a tubular body having an Vaxially extending fluidow bore and three side openings equally Y spaced about said bore, aflexible bore liner extending Vacross said openings sealing oil` accessof uid in the bore to said openings, three inserts at the outside ofsaid openings sized to enter said bore through said openings, saidinserts having equal circular cross sections in planes normal to thebore axis and rotary actuator means including cam means rotatable in onedirection about said tubular body in camming engagement with saidinserts to cause said inserts to enter said bore simultaneously and toequal progressive extent and to displace said liner at three symmetricallocations therein for reducing the uid ow bore area, saidrotaryvactuator means being operable when rotation thereof is stoppedgtohold lthe inserts at any one of an infinite number of selected positionsof equal progressive entrance into` said bore, the curved surfaces ofthe inserts in the valve closed position positively holding Vsaid boreliner in Y-shaped cross sectional coniigur'ation vand exertingcompressive `loading against lopposite sides of the Y-arms of the boreliner when the inserts are fully entered into said body.

2. The invention as dened in claim l in which said inserts compriseballs.

3. 'Ihe invention as defined in claim 2 in which said actuator cam meanscomprises a sleeve having three like recesses receiving said balls atthe outside of said side opening, the recesses having walls whichgradually diverge outwardly Afrom the tubular body in the direction offorward rotation of said sleeve and then Vabruptly taper back toward thetubular body.

4. The invention as defined .inv claim 2 in which the diameter of eachball plus the thickness of said liner and less the through dimension ofeach opening is substan tially equal to the bore radius.

5. The invention as dened in claim 2 in which said liner iscircumferentially bonded to said tube bore at locations at axiallyopposite sides of said openings.

6. 'Ihe invention as dened in claim 2 in which said liner is radiallyinwardly budged for cooperation with at least one ball to completelyclose the fluid ow bore area when said balls have entered said bore tomaximum extent.

7. The invention as defined in claim 2 in which said rotary actuatormeans comprises a rotatablyr mounted member having gear teeth, and aworm in threaded engagement with said teeth, said worm being mounted onsaid tubular body. v

8. TheY invention as defined in claim 2in which said rotary actuatormeans comprises a sleeve rfreely rotatable about said tubular body. Y

9. The invention as dened in claim 2 including threads supporting saidsleeve for axial advancement along and rotation about said tubular body.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 492,580Hadley a Feb. 28, 1893 2,641,282 Hazlett a Mar. 16, 1949 FOREIGN PATENTS179,527 Switzerland of 1935 59,025 Norway of 1938 745,844 Great Britaina of 1956

